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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Lowering pH

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24 Jan 2013 22:27 #1 by Wackoo (Niall)
Lowering pH was created by Wackoo (Niall)
My pH is around 7.5-8 is this very high?

I would prefer a neutral pH or slightly acidic as i would like to set up a tank with blue rams.

How do i go about lowering the pH?
Is it an easy process?
Should i even muck about with my water chemistry or is it too risky?

Niall

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24 Jan 2013 22:48 #2 by newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
Hi Niall,
There are chemical products available but if it were me i'd stay away from them, personally i added a piece of bog wood and it lowered it from 7.5 to 6.8 however it has also stained the water slightly brown which some don't like i know there are other natural ways out there i'll leave it to others with more experience with them than me to inform you.
jim

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24 Jan 2013 22:49 #3 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
The pH shouldn't really be swinging that much....that change going from 8 to 7.5 is an increase of over 3 times the acid content.

Stable slightly alkaline water is better than unstable acid water.

It is more than pH that is important to rams.
Conductivity is a much more important thing.

You could mess around with mixing RO water, but unless you get that right your tank will be unstable.

A better solution is a milder approach of adding bog-wood and peat. That will introduce some weak buffering, and may lower the pH (it all depends on what is causing the pH you already have in the water).

For Rams, clean water with regular water changes is also a key point.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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24 Jan 2013 23:05 #4 by Wackoo (Niall)
Replied by Wackoo (Niall) on topic Lowering pH

The pH shouldn't really be swinging that much....that change going from 8 to 7.5 is an increase of over 3 times the acid content.

Stable slightly alkaline water is better than unstable acid water.

It is more than pH that is important to rams.
Conductivity is a much more important thing.

You could mess around with mixing RO water, but unless you get that right your tank will be unstable.

A better solution is a milder approach of adding bog-wood and peat. That will introduce some weak buffering, and may lower the pH (it all depends on what is causing the pH you already have in the water).

For Rams, clean water with regular water changes is also a key point.

ian


Apologies, I say 7.5-8 because I'm not exactly sure as in i can't read the test 100% accurately... it comes out of the tap at this and my lfs says the water in the area is very high.

I've just read a topic on the forum from a while back discussing peat moss and the results seem very impressive?

But as you said it's all about the condition my water is in at the moment...

I'm only a novice so all the advice I can get is very much appreciated! :)

Niall

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24 Jan 2013 23:15 #5 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
I'd go for the peat filtration and bog-wood option as your first choice.....then see from there.

To be honest, there is a massive difference between wild caught Rams and the blue rams that have been raised in captivity.
The non-wild are a lot more tolerant of differing water conditions.

ps....the measured pH will change with temperature (with everything else being equal)

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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24 Jan 2013 23:46 #6 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
If you have any way of collecting rain water,
I found this to be quite good,
I have an old wheelybin with a one inch hole drilled in the lid
With a 2 ltr coke bottle with end cut off upside down in the hole
Filled with fillterfloss under my rainwater pipe outside.
I have a good 6.5ph.

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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25 Jan 2013 07:25 #7 by Wackoo (Niall)
Replied by Wackoo (Niall) on topic Lowering pH

If you have any way of collecting rain water,
I found this to be quite good,
I have an old wheelybin with a one inch hole drilled in the lid
With a 2 ltr coke bottle with end cut off upside down in the hole
Filled with fillterfloss under my rainwater pipe outside.
I have a good 6.5ph.


Free water sounds very nice, especially if these water charges are coming in!

Thanks a milion for all the help!

Niall

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